Baltimore County and couple fight over guns and money

Posted: 1:47 pm Wed, October 14, 2009
By Danny Jacobs
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

It was a mundane appeal with a backstory straight from a Hollywood script.

As told to the judge Tuesday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, police had seized $13,000 in cash, 67 guns and small amounts of marijuana, methamphetamine and prescription medications from the White Marsh home of Rogelio and Rosario Simon in February 2006.

But only a few guns and the drugs were connected to Marlon Simon, the couple’s grown son and the person under investigation on federal drug charges.

Rogelio and Rosario Simon sued the county to recover Rogelio’s guns and Rosario’s cash. The county claims it no longer has the firearms or the money, having turned over everything to the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

Unfortunately for the county, its lawyers did not make that argument during a January 2008 trial in Maryland District Court. In fact, no one from the county showed up, and the judge entered a $13,063 default judgment for Rosario Simon.

The county’s request for a new trial was denied, leading to the appeal heard Tuesday in circuit court.

Officer Shawn Vinson, a special assistant county attorney, said an error within the county mail system caused the absence in District Court. The county promptly filed a motion for a new trial once it learned of the judgment, he said.

“It was an abuse of the judge’s discretion to deny our motion for a new trial,” said Vinson, who works in the police department’s legal division.

Judge Lawrence R. Daniels sounded skeptical.

“If the county screwed up … that’s the county’s problem,” he said. “You admit in open court the county didn’t do its job in getting you proper notice.”

Marcos’ guard

Edwin S. MacVaugh III, the Simons’ lawyer, provided background on the case prior to the hearing. Marlon Simon was found with drugs in his car in Northern Virginia in early 2006, he said. Investigators also found identification with his parents’ home address, he said, which led to county police searching the home with a warrant.

Marlon Simon was sentenced in August 2006 to 19 years in prison on conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine and possession of a firearm for use in drug trafficking, according to federal court records. At least one of the guns was found in his bedroom at his parents’ house, according to the county’s forfeiture claim.

Rogelio and Rosario Simon are immigrants from the Philippines with no criminal records, MacVaugh said following the hearing. Rogelio, who served on the personal security detail of Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos, obtained his American citizenship before starting his collection of antique and modern firearms, said MacVaugh, of MacVaugh & LeCompte in Towson.

MacVaugh said the firearm lawsuit was dismissed after it was discovered the county no longer had the weapons. The ATF recently returned the firearms to Rogelio Simon, MacVaugh said, adding that U.S. Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, D-Md., wrote to ATF on the Simons’ behalf.

Regarding the money, Vinson said in court the county cannot be held liable for what it does not possess. But MacVaugh said following the hearing there is case law supporting Rosario Simon’s money claim.

“A dollar is a dollar,” he said. “As long as the county has $13,000, it doesn’t matter if they have Mrs. Simon’s $13,000.”

Vinson told Daniels the county has tried to work with MacVaugh to find the money and upholding the default judgment is tantamount to a “theoretical $26,000 windfall” for the Simons.

“This would be the equivalent of punitive damages to Baltimore County,” Vinson said. “At no time did we wrongfully hold the money.”

Daniels gave no indication as to when he would issue his ruling.